Sugary sodas may feel like the perfect thirst quencher, but prolonged soda consumption can actually have serious consequences in the long run. Over time, studies have shown increasing links between soda consumption and the risk for high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, and even heart problems. In fact, one Swedish study observed the soda consumption of 42,000 men over the course of 12 years. There were roughly 3,600 new cases of heart failure during the 12-year long study, and it concluded that men who regularly drank two or more servings of soda per day had a 23% greater risk of experiencing heart failure in their lifetime. Women are strongly advised to ditch the soda as well. Long-term soda consumption in women has been strongly linked to a rise in insulin problems, high blood pressure, obesity, and type-2 diabetes, all of which are triggers for major heart problems. Heart failure occurs when the heart does not have the strength to pump enough oxygen and blood. 23 million people across the globe already deal with heart failure, and it will only continue to worsen with the regular consumption of processed foods, sodium, and sugary beverages like soda.

Young people are notoriously picky about eating fruits and vegetables, but a diet packed with at least 4 servings of fruits and vegetables per day can preserve long-term cardiac health. While plenty of research on this subject has been done on the older adult population, little research was available for the 18 to 30 demographic until the CARDIA study at the Minneapolis Heart Institute. This study narrowed in on the problem of Coronary Artery Calcium, or CAC, in this age group since CAC analysis helps doctors determine if a patient is more at risk of heart failure. Starting in 1985, this program studied the fruit and vegetable intake of over 5,000 people in a 20-year period. At the conclusion of the study, participants were asked a series of questions about their dietary habits and went under CAC tomography scanning to determine the levels of artery calcium buildup. The study divided the participants into two groups; the first group had a high fruit and vegetable intake of 7 to 8 servings, and the second group had a lower intake of just 2 to 3 servings of fiber per day. Using data collected from interviews and CAC scans, researchers discovered that people with eating habits like those in the first group were less at risk of developing a CAC condition by 26%.

A low-fat diet feels like a natural choice for losing weight, but completely eliminating certain nutrients over time may not be the answer. In fact, one study concluded that low-fat diets did not have a greater impact on weight loss than diets with higher fat contents. Of the 68,000 participants studied, low-carb diets revealed a similar average weight loss to low-fat diets, showing only a 2.5 pound increase in loss. Over time, nutrient-restricting diets like these tend to drop off after the first year, leading to little or no results. So what goes wrong?Any diet that requires the elimination of nutrients, like fat, needs to fill that void with a healthy substitute to help maintain long-term weight loss. Unfortunately, many low-fats diet programs fill that void with snacks stuffed with sodium and sugar. This can decrease the physical and mental endurance needed to sustain a successful low-fat diet over time. That's why it's important for any nutrient-restricting diet to include a healthy serving of fruits and vegetables that are rich in vitamins and minerals. This can help provide the energy and mental focus needed to sustain a successful diet over the long-term.

A recent Norway study indicates that in both men and women obesity is strongly associated with chronic low back pain. The increased weight of being obese wreaks havoc on the spinal tissues that are placed under constant and increased stress due to the additional weight. Fortunately, most obesity is treatable and with loss of the additional weight, many experience significant improvements in their back pain complaints, not to mention the improvement or reversal of many other related health conditions. Fortunately, chiropractic care can still help before the additional weight comes off, or, if the additional weight cannot be lost. Chiropractors not only provide relief for many experiencing back pain due to obesity, but some additionally offer treatment programs directed at weight loss and strategies to improve one’s overall health. If you’ve got extra pounds to lose and are suffering from back problems, you deserve an opportunity to try chiropractic care!

The title above is from a release by the American Chiropractic Association on August 2, 2013, that appeared in several news outlets including the American News. The release, and several associated news articles discuss how chiropractic helps people who suffer from headaches.
The ACA release begins by noting, "If you have a headache, you're not alone. Nine out of ten Americans suffer from headaches. Some are occasional, some frequent, some are dull and throbbing, and some cause debilitating pain and nausea."
Another article about chiropractic and headaches in the Merritt Herald from Canada on July 24, 2013, starts by stating, "Did you know that one of the most common forms of headache is actually caused by problems in the neck?"
The ACA release reported on research of how chiropractic helps headaches by noting, "A report released in 2001 by researchers at the Duke University Evidence-Based Practice Center in Durham, N.C., found that spinal manipulation (adjustments) resulted in almost immediate improvement for those headaches that originate in the neck, and had significantly fewer side effects and longer-lasting relief of tension-type headache than a commonly prescribed medication."
Using chiropractic care for headaches is not a common medical procedure. This fact was illustrated in the Merritt Herald article, "Unfortunately, the medical understanding of headaches often does not take into account the chiropractic model, which remains foreign to many within the medical profession."
The Merritt Herald article also reported that this information is not new, noting that, "In 1995, a team of MDs at Syracuse University established neck problems as the cause of many headaches with scientific, anatomical proof." The researchers were headed up by Dr. Rothbart, a medical doctor.
In an interview after the research, Dr. Rothbart stated, "Some brilliant people have put their hearts, souls and minds to this (headache) problem and haven't come up with anything. All we've been able to do is treat people with an array of medicines, one after the other, and hope the side effects won't be too bad. We couldn't believe it at first. We've been able to put together a scientific explanation for how neck structure causes headaches — not all headaches, but a significant number of them. It's true that chiropractors have been saying this for years. Unfortunately, many (medical) doctors tend to have a jaundiced view of chiropractors, but they were right about headaches."

Back pain and spinal problems are increasingly burdening the healthcare system within the U.S. as well as many other countries throughout the world. The latest numbers come in close to $86 billion - the annual cost of treating spinal problems in the United States alone. This number equates to a 65 percent increase in the cost of treating back and spine related disorders in just the past decade. Worse yet, new research indicates people's back and spine related problems are no better off. So what’s the deal? Experts state increased spending on prescription drugs, more advanced diagnostic testing and increases in the number and cost of spinal surgeries are partly to blame. While this is unfortunate, it's clear that the current overall methodology of treatment is not successful since significantly increasing costs shouldn't result in a poorer outcome for back and spinal disorder sufferers. Chiropractic care is safe, non-invasive and highly effective in the management of many spinal disorders including some of the most common causes of back pain. Chiropractic care has also been shown to be a very cost-effective treatment for certain back and spinal problems. In fact, chiropractic doctors receive so much back and spine related training that most chiropractic students purchase models of the human spine to study extensively during their chiropractic training.